Day: August 18, 2026

As Citi Bike has ballooned in popularity, it has also become dramatically more expensive, with the price of a 45-minute electric bike ride for members nearly tripling over the past five years.

The transporation advocacy group Transportation Alternatives wants to change that.

The group last week launched a campaign to cap the price of a Citi Bike member’s 45-minute ride at just $3, equivilent to the cost of a subway or bus fare. The price of such a Citi Bike ride has shot up over the past five years from $4.50 in 2021 to $12.15 this year.

Citi Bike has grown incredibly popular with nearly 200,000 daily rides in June, according to data from the rideshare giant Lyft, which is contracted with the city to run the program. Citi Bike’s electric bicycles are far more popular than its classic bikes, with the silver two-wheelers accounting for roughly 72% of the service’s trips so far this year. 

Transportation Alternatives’ executive director, Ben Furnas, said the group’s campaign was inspired by feedback from Citi Bike riders who say that while they are fans of the program, it has become far too costly.

“One thing we hear a lot when we talk to Citi Bike riders, folks who love the service and who are curious about the service: is it’s terrific, it’s very convenient, it’s a great way to get around and do a lot of trips, but it’s just gotten very expensive, and particularly on the e-bikes,” Furnas said in an interview.

Furnas said the cost reduction could come from the city subsidizing the program to some extent. If Citi Bike were to adopt a funding model that combined public subsidies with rider payments it would be far more in line with bike share programs in comparable cities — such as Paris, London, or Montreal.

The subsidies help keep costs down for those cities, to the point that Citi Bike, which has never recieved any public funds, is more expensive than bike share systems in any other major American, Canadian, or European cities — according to a 2025 report from the city’s Independnent Budget Office.

“Most every other bike share system in North America and definitely across the world is paid for by some combination of riders and and public subsidy,” Furnas said. “There’s no reason why New York shouldn’t be similar. And we could have a bike share system that’s much less expensive.”

Transportation Alternatives officially began its push last week with a Brooklyn launch party attended by a slew of local elected officials, including City Council Member Lincoln Restler (D-Brooklyn). The lawmaker is sponsoring a bill, which he first introduced in 2024, that would update the contract between the city Department of Transportation and Citi Bike to require that the cost for a 1-hour e-bike ride be capped at $3 for members.

The council member said the city already subsidizes most other forms of public transit, such as the NYC and Staten Island Ferries — with the former heavilly subsidized and the altter entirely funded by the city.

“Just as we invest $12 a ride in ferries and $9 a ride in express busses with taxpayer dollars, we should be prepared to invest in our bike share program to make it sustainable and affordable for all New Yorkers,” he said.

Restler said that while his bill got some traction in the last council, it did not move forward due to opposition from former Mayor Eric Adams’ administration. Both he and Furnas said they are optimistic that Mayor Zohran Mamdani will get behind the proposal instead.

“I’m hopeful that Mayor Mamdani, who has prioritized addressing the affordability crisis, will embrace this campaign,” Restler said. 

When asked where the administration stands on the effort, DOT spokesperson Will Livingston said it is “committed to creating a more affordable city, including through transit options like Citi Bike.”

“In any near-term negotiations around bike share cost, and looking ahead to 2029, the Mamdani administration will work to secure the strongest benefits for riders and their wallets,” he added, referring to the city’s contract with Lyft, which expires in 2029.

A Lyft spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

Livingston pointed out that the city does not have the authority to cap Citi Bike’s prices under the current contract. That power would come through the contract renegotiation mandated in Restler’s bill.

However, some experts have said a public subsidy could amount to a blank check for Citi Bike, without any incentive for it to lower prices, according to a published report.

But Restler said that could be prevented by putting the subsidy toward improving Citi Bike’s operations that currently drive up costs, so the system becomes more efficient and cheaper as a result, rather than as a simple cash infusion.

The lawmaker said one way the city could do so is by expanding the number of Citi Bike docks that are diectly linked to the power grid. That way bikes can charge in the docks rather than Lyft employees having to drive around in trucks to individually switch out dead batteries for charged ones, which is how it currently deals with dead e-bike batteries.

“What I’ve long proposed is that the City of New York put up the money to connect approximately 25% of Citi Bike docks to the electrical grid,” he said. “This would allow for e-bikes to automatically recharge while docked and save Lyft tens of millions of dollars in annual costs.”

Curently, just 32 of the city’s roughly 2,000 bike share docks are electrified, Livingston said.

Furnas said his group is also pushing for Lyft to expand its electrified docks.

In addition, he said Transportation Alternatives wants the city and the company to offer free Citi Bike memberships to city employees.

“For health reasons or for ease of convenience, we think this is a great benefit that the city of New York should offer to all of its employees, which would be a great way to encourage bicycling and and get folks out of more expensive ways of getting around and supporting Citi Bike all at the same time,” he said.

Brooklyn’s self-proclaimed largest and oldest street festival will return for its 51st year of music, food and fun next month. 

The Atlantic Antic will take over a 1.5 mile stretch of Atlantic Avenue on Sept. 27, with hundreds of vendors and thousands of people expected to fill the streets.

A celebration of the neighborhood and its residents and cultures, the festival will offer a wide variety of activities and a chance to meet up with friends old and new. 

Vendors will offer up cuisines from all over the world alongside crafts, jewelry, clothing and more, and interested vendors can apply to take part in the festival through Sept. 21. 

But there’s much more to do than eating and shopping.

This year’s festival will have three dedicated areas for kids — one hosted by Mommy Poppins at Hicks Street and another hosted by Brooklyn Bridge Parents at Boerum Place, each with their own kid-friendly activities and offerings. 

The Antic’s most popular activities, though, are at the main Kids Zone, where little ones can get their faces painted, hop into bouncy houses, and even take a pony ride.

Entertainment will line the route, too, welcoming back familiar faces and some new acts. 

Middle Eastern musicians will take the spotlight with dancing and live tunes at the Clinton Street Stage, and young performers with Kids Rock for Kids will present a variety of acts at the Nevins Street and Community stages between Third and Fourth avenues.

The relatively new “Atlantic Sing” competition, which debuted last fall, will return, welcoming contestants to battle it out with renditions of songs from the 1970s, 80s, 90s, and 2000s. The first place winner will take home $300 in cash, with smaller prizes for the second and third place contestants. 

Atlantic Antic will return from 12-6 p.m. on Sept. 27, rain or shine. 

Forget the hot dogs — Coney Island’s got sand on the menu.

The infamous beach became a canvas on Saturday as sand sculptors of all ages gathered for the annual Coney Island Sand Sculpting Competition. The free community tradition, now in its 34th year,  drew competitors and curious beachgoers to the shoreline at West 12th Street on Aug. 15, where every mound of sand was claimed and transformed into a work of art.

By the end of the afternoon, four winners had emerged across the competition’s categories: Tony Cusicanyu took home the Individual Artist title, Rosie Rodavsky won the Adult Group category, Alma Johnson and her family won the Family Group competition and Fernanda Perez captured the People’s Choice Award.

The annual event, presented by the Alliance for Coney Island, Coney Island BID, Brooklyn Community Services, NYC Health + Hospitals/South Brooklyn Health, Raising Cane’s and the New York Aquarium, invited professional and amateur sculptors alike to see what they can create with little more than sand and imagination.

This year’s competitors worked throughout the afternoon as visitors watched the sculptures take shape along the beach. The event has become one of the neighborhood’s signature summer traditions, bringing together families, artists and beachgoers for a distinctly Brooklyn kind of art show — one where the exhibits disappear with the tide.

Event organizer Cindy Vourderis told Brooklyn Paper that the event was “an incredible day on the beach.”

“Every mound was claimed, and the talent was unbelievable. You could feel the excitement not only from the competitors, but from everyone stopping along the boardwalk to see what they were creating. That’s what I love most about this event; it really brings out the creativity in people and turns the beach into something special.”

She added that Coney Island USA is excited to plan an “even bigger” 35th anniversary celebration next year.

For the neighborhood, the event is about more than building impressive sandcastles. It is also a celebration of the waterfront and the community that gathers there every summer.

“For over 30 years, the Coney Island Sand Sculpting event has brought New Yorkers and visitors from abroad down to South Brooklyn to view and take part in a day full of fun and magic,” Kalvis Milkenstein, executive director of the Coney Island BID, said in a statement. “It’s truly a joyous event, highlighting the beautiful waterfront and bringing everyone together to celebrate the magic of Coney Island.”

Judge Carro issued an order canceling the trial and giving the Manhattan DA’s office until Oct. 9 to respond to the double jeopardy claims.

The post Luigi Mangione’s state murder trial postponed indefinitely amid double jeopardy fight appeared first on Brooklyn Eagle.

A STREET CO-NAMING CEREMONY honored the memory of Firefighter Frank Gasparino, who died at age 62 of 9/11-related cancer in 2022.

The post Bay Ridge community memorializes Firefighter Frank Gasparino with new street sign appeared first on Brooklyn Eagle.